Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/754383
4 CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 "But the real scandal is the Council 's at- titude towards the inquiry. This ref lects the dire state of democ- racy in the EU, where govern- ment officials decide behind closed doors and a critical de- bate is shut out. We will keep pushing for a full investigation of the Panama Papers scandal, including member states' own dirty laundry. If the Council continues to infringe on the Parliament's treaty-based rights to inquiry, we need to look into legal steps as we did for access to documents under the LuxLeaks committee." A joint meeting of the Panama and Economic committees on 26 January, 2017 could see Scicluna talking about the Maltese presi- dency's priorities. But the problem for the PANA committee is that the European Parliament's Conference of Pres- idents has declined its request to send a delegation to visit Malta as part of its work programme. The conference, which groups the presidents of the parliamen- tary blocs and is the governing body of the European Parlia- ment, rejected the request for a mission to Malta, saying that missions to the Presidency countries are now systemati- cally rejected, unless linked to "High Level Conference". Langen told committee coor- dinators they could tell their political groups' presidents, that the PANA visit to Malta would focus on the country's compliance with EU legislation on money laundering and taxation. The visit was planned for early 2017, and would seek to meet Ed- ward Scicluna, Opposition lead- ers, the inland revenue depart- ment and the regulatory body on money laundering, law en- forcement bodies, intermediary firms such as tax advisors and law yers, MPs, and also NGOs and journalists about their take on the practices in Malta and how they feel Malta performs in enforcing European laws in these fields. The PANA committee also wants to host a session in Janu- ary 2017 in which representa- tives from six national par- liaments – Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Nether- lands as well as Malta – would make a statement on what fol- low-up there was on the Panama Papers and Bahamas Leaks. Only Belgium and the Nether- lands have or are considering setting up an inquiry Com- mittee, while Maltese MPs heard two motions of no confidence against Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri on the subject. Langen said he would tell the Conference of Presidents of the necessity for a Malta "fact- finding mission" since "Malta is frequently referred to in the Panama Papers publications as a facilitating country – the number of law firms, account- ants and banks involved in the Panama Papers is comparable to Germany. Malta has a specific financial infrastructure with many intermediary companies involved in the setting up of offshore companies in jurisdic- tions where secrecy is for sale." Council contesting PANA legality EU member states have been advised by the Council of Min- isters' legal service to coordinate a "unified approach" before any minister gets summoned to tes- tify before the European Parlia- ment's committee to investigate the Panama Papers, and that governments could contest the legality of the EP decision to set up the committee. The council was told by its legal service that member states could be in a position to refuse par- ticipation in the Panama Papers committee, saying that MEPs could not assume for themselves the power of the European Com- mission by asking member states on how they have enforced taxa- tion rules, unless they had clear allegations of contraventions or proof of maladministration. The 65-member committee seeks to investigate alleged con- traventions and maladministra- tion in the application by the European Commission or mem- ber states of EU laws on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion. "The purpose of a committee of inquiry cannot be to substi- tute itself for the Commission by asking Member States to provide it with information on the trans- position and implementation of Union acts, unless this request is duly founded through a link with alleged contraventions or facts of maladministration in the ap- plication of these acts of Union law," the legal service said. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2016 News Dwarna with Mariella Dimech every Tuesday at 21.00 on TVM2 EU presidency stumbling block for Panama MEPs' Malta visit Panama committee chairman Werner Langen: 'Malta is frequently referred to in the Panama Papers publications as a facilitating country' German MEP Fabio de Masi: Edward Scicluna is dodging his responsibilities Concerned by rise in child poverty, academics call for firmer action YANNICK PACE THE Faculty of Social Well- being has expressed concern at the rise in child poverty. Following the release of Eu- rostat data on child poverty last week, the faculty said that the increase in under-18s who are at risk of poverty has increased at an alarming rate over the past 10 years. Since 2005, the rate has in- creased by 5.8% when com- pared to the EU average of 1%. The faculty said that while all forms of poverty should be vigorously fought, poverty among children deserves par- ticular attention because it occurs at a time in their life which is crucial to their de- velopment and their lifelong prospects. "Children do not get sec- ond chances to re-live the most important developmen- tal years of their life and re- search has repeatedly shown that deprivation at this early stage has negative implica- tions for health, educational, social and economic out- comes in their life," read a statement signed by Andrew Azzopardi, faculty dean. In more general terms, the faculty said that Malta has a relatively lower risk of pov- erty than the EU, with 37.5% of the population found to be at risk, compared to the Euro- pean average of 44.6%. However, the faculty warned that over the past decade, this figure too has risen by 5.6% compared to a 1.5% in- crease across the European Union. Moreover, if one takes into account social transfers – help given by the state or other local institutions – the Maltese average of 16.3% is a lot closer to the European av- erage, which stands at 17.3%. The Faculty for Social Well- being said that while the overall average remains lower than that across the EU, with time, the local population has become less resilient to pov- erty, adding that firmer ac- tion on in-work poverty must be taken. It also stressed that there is a pressing need for an in- depth analysis of the rise in child poverty, its causes and consequences, and for defini- tive action to eradicate child poverty within as short a timeframe as possible.